Day 76
I’m an addict. Okay, I admit it. I am. And it’s good it’s out “there”. A lot of my friends will be astounded to hear this news. Sorry, people, but it’s for the best that I go public.
Sudokus run my life.
Damn them!
I’d have at least a half hour extra every day to do something else … like learn how to knit (which I knew how to once because I made a sweater in college that I still wear – but have since forgotten how to do so). Or water my compost pile (which hasn’t been watered since the year I got it – which was 2004). Or perfect my French, Italian or Spanish (which, when in a foreign country trying to talk with a local, I tend to blend together to form a new non-sensical language that no one, including myself, can understand). But, instead, I copy off this silly number puzzle and engage my brain in a mental challenge.
Which is all fine and good … however, a day without a sudoku is like, well, a day without a mental challenge. I would say a day without sunshine – but I prefer cloudy days (sensitive eyeballs) and well, I’d be happy without sunshine but my brain would be mush without my sudoku.
So, even when I’m too tired to do one (and the numbers all blur while I’m in bed staring at it and I’m sure one of the dogs could figure it out quicker than I could) … I still work at it. I go for the Hard and Evil puzzles. If it’s not hard to do – why do it?
I used to be a crossword junkie … a daily crossword puzzle was my addiction for awhile. And then, which is now years hence, I was introduced to the sudoku craze.
In Japanese “Su” means number and “Doku” refers to the single place on the puzzle board that each number can fit into. It’s kind of a “Solitaire with numbers”. Although Japanese in name its origins are European and American – a hybrid creation of sorts.
The puzzles were a huge hit in Japan in the mid-1980’s but didn’t become a sensation in the U.S. until puzzles started showing up in daily newspapers in 2005. They have been all the rage since. There are many variances to the puzzle but the 9 x 9 grid is the most common.
When I sub I give the kids one on the board to work on when they are finished with their work. I think it gets their brains working in an out-of-the-box kind of way helping to hone their logical and deductive capabilities. I know it does mine.
And I guess there are a lot of things that would be worse to be addicted to … drugs, alcohol, gambling, porn, donuts … you get the gist. So, I guess it’s not so bad that I’m just addicted to sudokus.
Well, sudokus and Starbucks … and cheetos … and dark chocolate … and …. hmm.